The Arts, Fabrics, and Instrument tools

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I like to attempt new bag patterns once a month if I can squeeze in the time. Sometimes they are from new to me designers, other instances they are from designers I get pleasure from. This month I am sharing a pattern from iThinkSew called The Kristin Bag. To see preceding months testimonials read March, February , January, and November, or variety in ‘Pattern Reviews’ in the search bar to study far more!

The Kristin Bag is a PDF pattern that is sent to you quickly soon after purchase. It is fully typed pattern with clear picture pictures of each and every step and computerized pattern pieces. You can print this pattern in Letter/A4 sizes as well.

For my tote I utilized a mixture of components. The straps and bag bottom are a textured upholstery vinyl, the exterior and numerous interior pieces are a home decor mid-weight cotton blend. The interior is a grey lighter weight corduroy. I employed Pellon SF101 and Soft&ampStable for my interfacings and also quilted the exterior with wide stitches.

This is an simple pattern. A newbie could make a Kristin very easily with or without having the zippers. There is one particular closure zip and one particular interior zip written in the pattern, but I opted to just add the main exterior a single. Directions are incorporated for zipper installation for these that are new to them.

Pattern pieces are handful of. There is a major panel for the interior, two for the exterior and pieces for the interior zipper or pockets. I liked the look of the straps sewn into the bottom of the top exterior panel. I followed the pattern, but next time I consider I’d add a rivet or two at the base of the strap for a visual function. It’s not structurally necessary, but would look sharp!

The gusset is an elongated oval which provides the tote a wide roomy base. I added four purse feet to mine (not in pattern).

I have been sewing with iThinkSew patterns for years and have enjoyed them all. I have read many mixed critiques of iThinkSew patterns though. I honestly consider your enjoyment of their patterns depends on how you interpret directions of sewing patterns. There are a handful of free patterns on the iThinkSew site so try one particular out first to see if it functions for you.

Here is my corduroy interior with alterations. Since I utilized the huge zipper closure I produced six roomy pockets to store all my ‘stuff’. I feel the interior could have been sewn at a bigger SA to make it a bit much more snug, but that’s a personal preference not the pattern. This would make a excellent child or toddler bag do not you believe?

The pattern delivers two sizes: A little that finishes at 18” WIDTH X 11 1/2” HEIGHT X 6” DEPTH, and a large Large: 22” WIDTH X 13” HEIGHT X 7” DEPTH. I wanted to try and make it a tad smaller to see how it would appear so I printed the pattern pieces at 85%. My finished sizes were approx. 16″ wide at top, 12″ wide about bottom with similar depth. A wonderful size for me!

I give this pattern a two-thumbs-up. I consider it’s an all-about versatile bag and will be making a lot more for positive! Interested in getting this Kristin bag? It will be obtainable in my Etsy shop mid-week!

Most hardware and software program for music producing has usually gotten far better, but not the dedicated audio editor. This when-proud genre of music computer software has fallen on difficult times. Tools have been acquired, discontinued, received also-handful of updates. Some of the greater tools we’re left with appear like they came from one more decade.

And that is too negative. Since getting a tool devoted solely to day-to-day audio chores is a truly very good issue. Possibly you’ve got a set of samples you want to crop and clean up to load onto your drum machine or into a application sampler. Maybe you are sorting by way of a massive stack of field recordings. Possibly you have got a huge set of cues for a video game or app project. Odds are just about every person, no matter how basic, winds up with some grunt work converting and editing audio and applying effects and plug-ins.

I’m always up for some new entry to this industry, and so I was glad to see ReSample pop into my inbox. It’s a Windows and Mac tool for audio editing. And it at least looks modern: it is got a slick interface that appears at home on today’s higher-density Mac and Computer displays.

It is also, at final, ready for your new hardware. So on both Computer and Mac, you get multi-touch trackpad gestures and slick editing that makes browsing via waveforms straightforward. On the new MacBook Pro, you even get Touch Bar assistance – producing this a single of the very first third-party apps to assistance Apple’s new input device.

There’s also a lot constructed-in: noise reduction, vocal removal, tons of effects, higher-top quality sample rate conversion, loads of file conversion alternatives, and rich spectral views of almost everything so there’s visual feedback on what you’re undertaking. As for your own plug-in collection, this app acts as a VST and AU host, too.

The most vital function to me is the 1 that’s missing in this extremely first release: there’s no batch conversion. But the developers do tell me this is a priority, and must be obtainable in the close to weeks.

A rapid play of the plan reveals it to be basic and efficient. I’ll attempt to do a full review quickly (I may wait for batch features to give it an in-depth go).

Update: Lots of discussion in comments of which audio editors you do use these days – several of them free of charge. Love all the thoughts right here, and truly also shocked some tools didn’t come up – so this appears a great opportunity to do a comply with-up story soon!

The following is a press release issued by MQA and Universal Music Group.

LONDON AND SANTA MONICA | FEBRUARY 16, 2017 – Music technology organization MQA and Universal Music Group (UMG), the world-leader in music-primarily based entertainment, announced these days that the companies have entered into a multi-year agreement that will encode UMG’s comprehensive catalogue of master recordings in MQA’s industry-leading technology, promising to make some of the world’s most celebrated recordings available for the initial time in Hi-Res Audio streaming

Today’s announcement comes shortly after the launch of the cross-business advertising campaign “Stream the Studio”, launched at the 2017 Customer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and spearheaded by The DEG: the Digital Entertainment Group, to raise awareness of the advantages of Hi-Res Audio streaming.

Mike Jbara, CEO of MQA, commented, “We’re really pleased to be operating with Universal Music to obtain our objective of moving studio-top quality sound into the mainstream. Universal’s timeless catalogue and impressive artist roster will fuel music streaming solutions worldwide and enable the premium listening expertise for all music fans.”

Michael Nash, Executive Vice President of Digital Strategy at UMG, said, “The promise of Hi-Res Audio streaming is becoming a reality, with one particular service currently in the market place and several a lot more committed to launching this year. With MQA, we are functioning with a companion whose technologies is amongst the best solutions for streaming Hi-Res Audio, and one that does not ask music fans to compromise on sound high quality for convenience. We’re hunting forward to operating with Mike and his team at MQA to make our sector-leading roster of artists and recordings available to music fans in the highest good quality feasible.”

MQA – the award-winning technologies which delivers master high quality audio in a file little adequate to stream – debuted on international music and entertainment platform, TIDAL, at the starting of this year, and is also offered internationally on numerous music download services.

About MQAUtilizing pioneering scientific investigation into how men and women hear, the MQA group has created a technology that captures the sound of the original studio efficiency. The master MQA file is fully authenticated in the studio and is modest enough to stream, whilst also being backward compatible, so you can play MQA music on any device. MQA’s award-winning technologies is licensed by labels, music services and hardware makers worldwide and is certified by the RIAA. MQA is a UK-primarily based private organization.

For far more details visit www.mqa.co.uk

About Universal Music GroupUniversal Music Group (UMG) is the world leader in music-primarily based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content in far more than 60 countries. Featuring the most extensive catalog of recordings and songs across each musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially effective music in the globe. Committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms and company models in order to broaden artistic and industrial possibilities for our artists and produce new experiences for fans. Universal Music Group is a Vivendi business. Locate out far more at: http://www.universalmusic.com

I have one large problem with pleat guidelines in sewing patterns. They instruct you to construct pleats from the proper side of the fabric, but we generally mark crease lines on the wrong side of fabric.

That is a recipe for inaccuracy.

But there is an option and I’m here to share it!

Mark crease lines in chalk on the incorrect side of the fabric. Then thread trace the lines, ideally in a silk thread. (Silk thread is super slippery, which tends to make it significantly simpler to remove the basting.)

Pleats are normally marked with a row of modest dots that is brought together to meet a row of large dots. Replicate this distinction by utilizing distinct coloured threads for each set of dots. Yellow thread for small dots pink thread for massive dots.

Flip your function over to the correct side. See how easy it is to see the pleat lines? Now, you can press them into location from the appropriate side, as instructed, and machine baste. You’ll have perfect pleats set in spot for the rest of your project construction.

I promise this makes life less complicated!

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Last year (I think?) I spruced this guitar up adequate for its owner to get it going once more. This year he came by with a Kent-branded 60s pre-loaded pickguard and had the intention of installing it.

As usual, for retrofit to an acoustic, placement of the pickup (despite its thinness) needed to be changed so it would clear the strings appropriately. It took a bunch of fuss to get this to mount with no needing a screw in the physique as well, but I finally got it worked-out.

The second element of the program involved replacing the mini-jack that came with the pickguard to a normal 1/4″ guitar jack on the face — which also necessitated moving the knobs about to get it to fit with the jack and cable-finish dropping into the widest element of the f-hole’s opening.

Right after that I wired-up a ground from the tailpiece to the jack from inside the body.

Whilst fussing with the pickguard’s mounting I kept noticing that the signal would drop more than and more than no matter how a lot of times I stripped and resoldered the end of the pickup’s leads. I ultimately yanked the complete lead from the pickup (see how rotted-out the interior of the cable is! — hence the issues of it grounding to itself) and had to go inside the cover of the pup and straight wire-up new leads from the +/- sides of the coil. I try not to do that on these old Japanese pickups simply because…

…beneath that cover the coil and magnet and its fragile leads are simply taped-up with what seems to be ancient masking tape. It is truly simple to harm these pickups with disassembly. Luckily, every little thing went nicely, and with almost everything back in place I was in a position to reinstall the whole assembly on the guitar and fire it up.

As expected, the tone is crisp, clear, and balanced — with that vaguely-acoustic tone that Danelectros frequently have — but leaning far more towards the DeArmond spectrum.

The old wiring harness also got all of its soldering-points re-heated but remained, otherwise, factory-original — including the “backwards” tone handle.

Yes, I have produced an additional Tilly and the Buttons Cleo dress, and if you look at this photo for long enough your eyes will turn fuzzy. Do not you really like 15th-century buildings?

My fourth Cleo was sewn using purple pin cord from Saeed Fabrics and leading stitched using gold prime stitching thread. Saeeds have a lovely variety of cotton baby cords at the moment – get oneself down there.

Sadly, I found a fault in my fabric following cutting out. Faults take place it’s component of the heady Russian roulette of purchasing fabric. I know, I’m crazy. We’re all crazy! They must make a Netflix series about us.

My fault was right on the seat of the dress. I darned the area but didn’t trust this weak spot to withstand either my arse or the washing machine.

I experimented with miniature pockets to cover the region.

No…

Undoubtedly not…

In the finish, I just unpicked my primary pockets and moved them closer in to the centre seam.

Not the most balanced look in the planet, and total strangers shall be staring at my behind, but what can I say? Creatives like wot you and I are carry heavy burdens. Pockets Screaming Appear At My Arse are just one particular of numerous.

It’s nevertheless a good dress!

I then sewed a companion piece to go beneath the dress. It is a Sew Over It Molly Leading from Lisa Comfort’s Capsule Wardrobe ebook. I genuinely enjoy this ebook. It’s the 1 sewing book I’ve sewn several products from. Why is that, do you think?

I chose this Liberty jersey because it carries a grey detail, which brings me nicely to my selected colour palette for #2017makenine:

Purple, grey, mustard, red

3 of these colours occur in today’s outfit. I’m going with purple and grey simply because these colours typically take place in my wardrobe, red simply because my soul will die with out it and mustard to challenge my boundaries. I’m not prescribing neutrals – just trust me to use them.

And I’m adding one particular caveat – random weirdness! This weekend I bought 4 metres of completely insane fabrics because they appealed. I’m not ruling that type of spontaneity out of my life for any sewing initiative. No, sirree.

Anyways. As has been proved time and again, the Cleo dress functions magnificently with corduroy. Fancy two metres of your personal child cord to play with? Then go to the corduroy choice more than at The Sewcial Studio. Enter a comment under saying which is your favourite, and you stand a likelihood of winning two metres! Personally, I love Damsons In The Wild.

And if you’re in the Staffordshire location on 11 February, The Sewcial Studio is operating a workshop on making the Cleo dress. Win, win!

The fabric giveaway runs until midnight GMT Thursday 12 January and is open internationally. Excellent luck!

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I took this in trade yesterday and, while it’s undoubtedly not something fancy, it does have numerous exciting design and style quirks. It is clearly a Japanese guitar and sports the usual construct elements for the time, with all-ply construction in the physique and a multi-piece mahogany neck with a bound, rosewood fretboard, and Martin-aping appears. It’s also roughly 000 in size and specs with a tight waist, 24 5/eight” scale and 15 1/8″ reduced bout width.

The most significant weirdness is its tic-tac-toe bracing pattern (appears like a # sign) which is arranged in virtually exactly the identical way as one would locate on a 1920s L-1. I’m assuming this pattern was either utilized to cut expenses vs. x-bracing at the factory, but since of the sturdy tonebar-with-ladder elements of the design and style the pattern also has the advantage of maintaining the leading from deflecting like crazy (an situation with a lot of 70s laminate/ply guitars), rising sustain, and also maintaining the neck joint steady (as the elevated rigidity of the top signifies the block travels much less with tension over time — the principal reason guitars need neck resets).

In truth, the only true “dilemma” with the guitar given that it was built in 1970 is that the laminate layers were beginning to peel up from under the (fortunately bolted) bridge and it needed a great fret level/dress and setup. I also replaced a missing pickguard, lubed the tuners, and voila — it really is up and playing once more.

I did this guitar on the quick because I was curious about the sound. I adore the direct, basic, sustained, and fingerpicking-friendly tone of the old L-1s and this guitar does have a lot of the basics of that sound — such as a strange, punchy, crisp general feel to it that isn’t very vibrant or brittle, but something else. For an all-ply cheapie, it really is really pretty exciting.

The “crown” motif is lovably cheesy and the molded plastic nut speaks to the high quality-level of the factory construct. The neck is bang-straight and the truss operates perfectly, even so.

The adjustable saddle on the bridge is fascinating since it really is a 100% rip on the Gibson-style adjustable units, though the saddle is brass as opposed to ceramic (ew), rosewood (yum), or ebony (yum).

Just like on Gibson adjustable bridges, there are two “holders” for the adjuster screws which are themselves bolted into the bridge and bridge plate. This is a a lot far more secure and functional way of producing an adjustable saddle vs. the usual Japanese and Korean adjustable saddles noticed from the same time.

The back and sides are ply mahogany and in a handful of locations on the sides you can see some burn-by way of from more than-zealous sanding before the finish went on!

Right after a lube the tuners began functioning just fine, even though a set of inexpensive Kluson repros would be a excellent upgrade.

Anybody know about this brand? I am thankful for the apparent date-mark, though!

At this point, the number of First Hawaiian Conservatory of Music parlors I’ve worked on is obtaining ridiculous. I worked on two in November of final year and then a smattering of other folks over the past few years. This 1 is owned by a consumer of mine and when it arrived, it’d already seen some old function done to it — a neck reset, a replacement or reprofiled (with a 12″ radius!) fretboard, and a replacement bridge and tuners.

My work was easy — I installed a new, rosewood (stained) bridge, new pins and bone saddle, gave the frets a level/dress, match some correct 20s Oscar Schmidt-style tuners from my parts-bins, cleated old crack repairs exactly where necessary, and set it up with a standard set of 12s. It plays beautifully and has the standard, woody, warm, and folksy sound that these FHCM models constantly have. Unlike a lot of old ladder-braced parlors, the FHCM guitars take a flatpick or heavy fingerpicking very easily and return a sweet (rather than brash) tone.

The black finish on this guitar was added later and 1 can see the red/brown finish found on most FHCM models peeking out from beneath the topcoat. The guitar is produced totally from strong birch in the body and sports a poplar neck with a maple fretboard.

A replacement, decent-high quality bone nut was on the guitar when it got to me.

I also added side dots. Note the massive, jumbo frets and the 12″ radius to the board. The radius helps the left-hand really feel, I consider, over your average FHCM — but it feels a little strange at first when one particular is expecting 100% flat.

I had to touch-up around the bridge where finish had been crackled to the bare wood in the past. Whilst I typically use a pyramid bridge to replace broken or missing original bridges, I believed this pointed, light-belly bridge suited the appear — particularly with its coloration.

As you can see, the old neck reset gave the guitar plenty of height at the saddle.

The old tuners operate fine and have new, StewMac-supplied cream buttons.

To date, I’ve had practically 600 responses to my #2017makenine survey (thank you!). The most popular items are:

Dress – 37.ten%

Jeans – 32.38%

Prime – 31.87%

Trousers – 23.78%

Knitwear – 23.27%

Skirts – 18.72%

Dresses were in the lead, which tends to make me believe I’d like to add two dresses to my #2017makenine pledge. I’m also glad to be reminded how important jeans are as I’d like to sew a second pair of Ginger jeans, getting lately re-discovered my very first pair.

So, that is two dress patterns, one particular jeans pattern… I have my thoughts about tops. But due to the fact I paid for a month’s access to this survey service, and since it is entertaining to drill down, here’s a slightly far more detailed questionnaire, asking for your favourite dresses, tops and skirts. This weekend, I hope to tip out my pattern stash and filter. Thanks once more for your aid.

Lastly, a note on capsule wardrobes. A lot more than a few blog readers seemed dismayed that I was going anyplace close to a capsule wardrobe, believing that this would drain all the fun and spontaneity out of my sewing. Interesting!

What is it that divides us right here? The phrase ‘capsule wardrobe’, bringing to mind some utilitarian corporate dream? A perceived division among order and creativity? Or did I just pick the incorrect phrasing, when what I really want is a exciting, modern wardrobe that coordinates and suits my life?

Answers on a postcard!

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The early days of January – the email inbox is nonetheless quiet, issues are for several nevertheless moving slow. But if musical perspective is possible only with hindsight, it is a moment when the picture of a moment in musical history has initial crystallized. The zeitgeist of an era begins to reveal its footprint.

This is not a appear back. It’s a round-up of the music we think appears forward. Tellingly, as well, the music that is most effective at performing that also has studied their history and created their art – numerous artists show up on our reissues and new lists.

It is a likelihood to take into account what inspired us – and where that inspiration could take us in the months of production to come. Because while a lot of may overlook their gym memberships or other resolutions, music producing is anything that really will drive us, that deserves moments of mid-winter reflection.

Of course, you’ve got to get an individual to navigate all that – apparent and obscure options alike. So we turn to our typical contributor David Abravanel for an extensive list and evaluation of the huge image.

Lamin Fofana.

The cross-generational collaboration of Kaitly Aurelia Smith with Suzanne Ciani inspired us all, a duo of modular divas that wowed every person. 2016 saw the passing of Buchla, but Buchla lives on.

Ed.: I was blown away by how comprehensive David’s list was, but just a single missing here that I thought was one of the most critical reissues of the year – Luke Slater’s 90s-era The 7th Plain got a gorgeous reissue from A-TON, the cleverly-named new imprint of Ostgut. I wouldn’t want A-TON to be all about reissues, but a lot more like this would be welcome. -PK

2016 was a year for a lot of old favorites – whether it was Suzanne Ciani, Autechre, Leonard Cohen, or The Orb. It was also a year in with some surprises from artists I believed I “knew” – Patten, Scratcha Dva, and John Roberts all released left turn albums that are among their very best.

Unquestionably, David Bowie’s ★ cast the longest shadow on the year – the the extent that it wasn’t challenging to take into account Leonard Cohen’s You Want It Darker as anything of a spiritual successor (and, sadly, Cohen similarly died shortly right after delivering his final masterpiece).

2016 may have been a grim year politically, but I’m left with hope for the function that art will play in 2017 – as reflection of reality, as charge for resistance, and as escapism. AGF remains a prescient political voice – not only did she arrive at numerous of the cyber-political explorations ahead of other artists, she’s nevertheless undertaking it greater than most. Lamin Fofana followed up a series of exclusive EPs with a devastating complete length – futuristic techno with an unflinching international eye. Floorplan’s spiritually good Victorious will stay in essential rotation, as will Machinedrum’s Human Energy.

On the escapist finish, Lorenzo Senni continues to deliver distilled rave, now with a cyberpunk bent. The return of The Sea Nymphs was far more than welcome – symbolizing as it did that Tim Smith is nicely adequate to begin revisiting recordings (and suggesting even much more Sea Nymphs – and possibly Cardiacs) however to come. That On The Dry Land was just as magical and captivating as The Sea Nymphs 24-year-old self-titled album (not to mention the 32-year-old Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake album that 1st saw the three Sea Nymphs with each other) was icing. Lisieux’s I, a lovely bandcamp uncover, shows that there is a future for neo-folk that is not really as problematic as its previous.

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Finally, I’ve got to acknowledge the heavy emotional hits from Shackleton’s Devotional Songs and Barker &amp Baumecker’s Turns. The former saw the veteran bass outlier group up with versatile classically-trained singer Ernesto Tomasini, for excellent and difficult match. If you thought Thighpaulsandra was “a bit subtle”, Shackleton and Tomasini were there so seriously smash you over the head with drama. Barker &amp Baumecker, meanwhile, followed up final year’s transcendent “Love Is A Battlefield” with an album that showed that single to be a sign of amazing items to come. Possibly the greatest album I’ve ever heard on Ostgut Ton (it is neck-and-neck with Shed’s The Traveller), Turns injects intense emotion into its interconnected techno pieces. It’s simple to hear Barker and Baumecker challenging themselves to go further – and succeeding with flying colors.